Layer of Darkness
by SilentVectorX
Summary: A mysterious new hero needs a place to shelter in Jump City. Alone and unsure of himself, what evils does this character drag into the Titans Tower with him? On haitus.
1. KIRAE!

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Teen Titans. I DO own Kirae Nakase. Thanks to ScarletAngel68, Donut, and SanoZero for getting me this far alone. Next chapter will be up soon. RR please, hope you like it. This is gonna be nuts!

**Layer of Darkness  
Ch.1** "Even the Stars Hide Tonight" or:  
**-Kirae!-**

8:00PM Saturday night, Jump City

A pair of eyes glow an unnaturally bright orange in the dim shadows of a Jump City alleyway. But these irises appear to be human. They belong to the tall, chisel-faced half Japanese teenager wearing a bulky black combat uniform over his thin, lanky figure. He darts through a twisted path or urban clutter, desperately trying to gain distance from a foe he dared not to glance back at.

Kirae springs to the top of a large dumpster, then vaults to the edge of a ten foot chain-link fence, just barely clinging on with his white cutoff gloves. At that moment, a huge, snarling timberwolf reaches the other end of the alley. Kirae hauls himself over the top, and drops the entire ten feet, rolling when his black tactical assault boots touch ground. The wolf is forced to snake through the assorted alley debris, losing its speed advantage because of the tight confines. It could never get over the gate and is forced to begin shoving and stretching loose the bottom edge.

Kirae looks over his gear as he plans his next maneuver, while crossing a small section of packed parking lot belonging to one of Jump City's busiest multistory shopping malls. His black uniform is strangely unconventional, with bulky white armbands clipped to the shoulders bearing an emblem of crossed swords wreathed in blue flames, with 'Templars Exterminatus Daemon' scribed around the edge. The design is duplicated on his open-finger rappelling gloves, which are made of thick white Aramid, a material many times tougher than Kevlar. A white name tape above the large cargo chest pocket on the right side reads 'NAKASE', stitched in black. His harness system includes two thigh straps, a huge web belt, and also a shoulder rig, with a satchel under each arm. The right satchel contains three bundles of rappelling line, pre-attached and ready to use, while the left satchel contains twenty feet of titanium chain, with an additional ten feet of chain wrapped around his left shoulder and secured with a snap release. There are several equipment pouches on the front, and on his back is an extremely tall military pack that covers his back and reaches up to the top of his head.

He plows through the double glass doors of the second-story department store, startling shoppers as he storms down the isles. Because of the vertical terrain of Jump City, Kirae had entered on the second floor from what was ground level at this end of the mall. The basement floor was actually a subway terminal, and there would be a train arriving in seconds. Most of the store entrances ran along the inside of the mall, lining the walkways that allowed people to see the upper and lower floors. Kirae reaches the railing just as the black wolf with red markings slams through the doors, frightening many more people as it chases after his scent. Kirae had just completed clipping a section of line to the safety railing when the wolf bolts into view. Kirae swings over, and his feet just hit the ledge of the floor when the wolf slams into the railing he'd just been standing in front of. While facing the railing of the other floors, he pushes off the ledges with his feet, controlling his descent by squeezing the rope where it loops through a D-ring in his harness in his right hand, and holding the loose end behind him with the other. He quickly and smoothly reaches the bottom floor, and detaches his line. The wolf will have to make two passes of a hundred-fifty yards each to get to where Kirae is by using the crowded stairwells.

Kirae forces his body into one more good sprint, and flew through crowds of people to swoop into the subway car just in time. The car begins to move away, building speed as it goes, but the wolf once again comes into view, catching up with the train. However, the panic ebbs from Kirae as the train pickes up more speed and the wolf slips out of view yet again.

He rests his hands on his knees, and fights to stay standing as his breath comes back. He thinks out his next escape route, knowing that that giant wolf can easily run to the next stop and pick up his trail once again. Kirae is an amateur dealing with a werewolf, and there is only one way he will survive the night. He had to reach the Teen Titans.

He feels some measure of equilibrium returning to him, and finally has enough strength to stretch his joints. He takes off his sweat-soaked black watchcap and wrings it out. His sweat-matted black hair is cut to military regulation, extremely short on the sides, blending to about two inches on top.

Kirae becomes fully aware how much room he has to himself, seeing that the other people in the car had crept away from him. They eye his gear, the strange emblems, and his focused demeanor.

The next stop neared. Kirae focuses his mind on the next path he will take- a path that has no escape routes if he is caught before reaching his destination.

The doors hiss open, and Kirae lunges out, immediately heading up two flights of stairs while he reviews the directions in his mind. Above ground, this is a commercial district, with tall office buildings that house the operations of larger enterprises; the street level is small business fronts. One block away is where a highway splits up, one leg reaching across the bay, another following the shore. There are on-ramps and off-ramps to allow access to the commercial district, and nestled in that hub of traffic, in a blank lot, is a controlled-access tunnel, with tough automatic security gates. But Kirae could breach the service corridor and travel the tunnel on foot, and would set up a trap to gain enough time to run the 1.5 mile undersea tunnel that lead to a small island in the bay, where the Titans Tower front door lay.

There was no sign of the wolf behind him, but as Kirae knelt in front of the service door and opened one of the smaller outer compartments of his black backpack, the stress quickly built. His entire body was tensing as he took out three small blocks of SemTex plastic explosive, two disposable radio detonators, and his control unit. The door was an extremely heavy steel construct, with two sets of locking studs in the frame. There were bulges in the frame where the actuators were; Kirae placed his directional-blast charges where they would shear the studs between the frame and the door itself. He planted the detonators, and quickly slipped around the edge of the bunker. He covered his ears, and functioned the palm sized control unit. Even so, the crash of the 1.5 pound detonation nearly knocked him off his feet.

He swung around the corner and quickly surveyed the result. It was perfect, having blown the studs and only done surface damage to the thick, inward opening door. There were half-craters in the doorframe, and the door was slightly ajar. The handle was blown off, and the door was too hot to touch, so Kirae used his black auto-opening combat knife to push it open. He slipped inside and flipped on an angle-head flashlight attached to his chest, and a high power tactical light that he strapped to his right arm. The handle on the inside of the door was still intact, which Kire used to close the door. He faced the door and got to work on the trap that would give him his last lead.

On the lower left of his chest harness tucked into two small pouches were two grenades, shaped like soda cans with the standard lever-and-pullpin arming fuse on top. One was a solid green cylinder the size of a soda can, and one was black with dozens of small holes punched in the sides. The green one had fluorescent yellow and gray bands, while the black had dark brown and gray. The yellow and grey grenade would detonate and create a thick cloud of Silver Nitrate, laced with a deadly blast of metal shards. The second was designed to create an even larger Silver Nitrate cloud without the slice and dice effect, to prevent accidental bystander injuries. Kirae had made these himself for use against werewolves, but had only completed two out of the batch.

The setup was very simple. He taped them to the wall and to the door handle, with the safeties removed. When the door was opened, the tape would come loose, the levers would pop off, and the grenades would function. The werewolf would be just past the entrance when the delays would run out, and would definitely soak up a deadly, if not temporarily disabling, dose of the liquid silver compound.

Kirae gave his setup a nervous look over, then bolted down the long, dark corridor. There was an extra wide car lane, and a motorcycle lane. The corridor gently sloped downwards for the first third of the trip, so that it could get under the floor of the bay. The second section was logically level, with about the last two hundred feet on the Tower end sloping up at a harder angle, gaining about three stories of elevation to break the surface. All together the trip would be just one and a half miles, easily within reach under fifteen minutes.

The air inside the concrete shaft was even colder than it was outside, with the beam of Kirae's chest mounted light easily showing his frozen breath reaching out as he ran. Along the sides were concrete gutters, becoming steel grates where the shaft leveled. Kirae watched the reflective lane markings whip by, then looked forward. He pointed his higher powered tactical light down the shaft, where it could just barely cast some light all the way to the other end. He used the sight to encourage himself, knowing he could see the end, he knew he could reach it in no time. He was halfway through, with his arms slicing up and down, settling his body into a good fast pace...

A loud clap announced the werewolf's return. Even from a mile away, the tight confines of the tunnel channeled the sound of Kirae's grenades all the way back to him. By the time he glanced back, the werewolf was already on the ground. He could hear loud wailing and yelping, indicating that that grenades had functioned well. Kirae could not see the wounded werewolf struggling to get out of the choking cloud of misted silver nitrate. A small area had been instantly covered in the deadly fog, with about a ten foot radius. The gas-only grenade proved to be extremely effective, causing the cloud inside the tunnel to expand rapidly to a radius of thirty feet within seconds.

Nevertheless, the last spike of adrenaline gave Kirae the energy he needed to punch up the pace some more for the last leg of the trip. It seemed that on willpower alone he pushed up the steep slope. His body was in absolute agony, every muscle in his legs felt like tightened steel cable, his feet felt like completely dead weight that he had no control of whatsoever. A quick glance behind with the tactical light... Far behind him was a slowly dispersing, but still very deep, wall of rolling vapor. The tortured sounds of the oversized wolf had faded- it had either flamed out, or was recovering. Ahead lay the open-air exit; the stars were not visible through the thickly overcast sky, neither the coincidental full moon. Kirae would later become longing of a starlit sky, because in urban areas, all of the artificial night lights rendered the faint starlight invisible from the surface...

Kire stopped after a few strides uphill, turned, and knelt to steady his aim with the tactical light's beam focused to the max. He tried to convince himself that the damned werewolf was dead- both grenades had functioned with maximum potency- but he had to be sure before he lost sight of this section of tunnel. His eyes narrowed as his face formed into a snarl. He just knew he wasn't to be so fortunate, and just as his eyes focused in on the illuminated remains of the gas cloud, the hulking upright figure of a black werewolf with red accents strode into view. A wave of pins and needles rippled through Kirae's senses. Initially, he could not comprehend how the creature had shifted up two levels into the Crinos form with so much silver in it's system. Quickly his wits returned to him, and he turned away from the seven-foot beast as it began to run after him. Kirae's mind began to race, but he regained control when he realized how much willpower and rage the werewolf must have used to overcome the silver contamination.

Kirae felt nearly flash-frozen by the wicked downdraft of cold air that gushed in from the exit as he pounded up the final slope. He wasn't sure what he would see when he broke ground, but hoped that he would not have to breach the Titan's Tower itself just to get their attention. Blowing off a piece of their home because he couldn't find doorbell was something he sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to do; he was running out of plundered explosives in the first place. As he finally reached the surface, he deactivated his lights and stowed them; a huge glowing yellow tower greeted him with faint illumination. His position was just a few dozen yards out in front and to his own right of the front door, which appeared to be a deep blue colored double slider. His hawk-like vision zeroed in on the keypad next to the door as he hustled to it with loping strides. The garage was obviously in the rear, probably to the right side, which was where the pavement lead to. Kirae followed the pavement halfway in rather than struggle across the sand the whole way, finally reaching the concrete landing just a few feet from the keypad...

A terrible roar made every muscle in Kirae's body strain. He nearly tripped, caught himself, took a fast step and bumped the wall as he stopped. His body continued to tense as pounded the door with backhand strikes, and toggled the intercom with his right. Franticly, he spoke into the voicebox as loud as his unstable voice could-

"I'm outside! I'm dancing with a werewolf out here, help me! Can you hear me! I'm outside, just get out here with me!"

Kirae didn't have the option of waiting in the recessed doorstep where we would be pummeled, and he wasn't about to whip out a demolition charge. He pushed off the wall with his hands, immediately squeezing the release buckles on the shoulder straps of his heavy pack, dropping it. In a smooth motion he drew two white, streamlined pistol-like devices from the tactical-style holsters on his legs. The front end of these air tasers hung down the same length as the grip itself, lending an extremely bulky look. They were good for two shots worth of tethered probes each, delivering a short charge of 750,000 volts to a distance of fifty yards. Kirae had modified them with selector switches just above the trigger, one setting for the standard charge that was safe to use against humans, with the other position jacking up the amperage and activating knockdown capacitors that would provide an additional punch of electricity on contact. The huge front end was also a modification by Kirae, which tripled the battery size and housed a laser sight. Even so, these were completely untested...

**-Inside the Tower, 8:35 PM-**

The Teen Titans were sheltering inside, burning time to pass the cold, frosty night. Like most teens, they had comfortable routines that they had settled into for their off time. Raven was meditating in the Lotus position, facing the glowing nightlife of Jump City that was visible through the giant living room front window. Behind her, all three of the boys were vying for first place in a battle royale match of Super Smash Bros. Melee. They sat bunched together in a cloud of chaos, tapping away at the wireless control pads and sporadicly shifting around, creating a constant din, with Raven mostly tuning it out. Starfire hovered behind the couch, currently cheering on Cyborg, who was in the lead, using the power-armored character Samus to simultaneously keep Robin's character, Link, at bay, while focusing his attacks on pummeling Beast Boy's Captain Starfox into a box at the edge of the fortress-like arena. Cyborg hooted to himself as he used a series of well-timed mine, projectile, and melee attacks to destroy the box, blast Link into the air, and finally use a powerful airborne swoop kick to knock both of them off screen. No one heard the door intercom over the din of rabid videogaming chaos...

Cyborg taunted Robin, leaning towards him roughly and jeering "What? That's all ya got Wonder Boy? Oh yeaaahhh!" Robin made an annoyed face as he abused the control pad, impatiently awaiting his respawn. Rather than say something back, he angrily planned his next attack.

As the life markers disappeared, Cyborg turned his attention to Beast Boy. "I _soo_ just owned your monkey butt! Kicked your fuzzy face right off the planet! BOOYAH!"

BB growled, and probably would have changed into something big and straight up begun wrestling with Cy, but he didn't want to annoy Raven that much. So instead he just clumsily mashed the controller, citing how Cyborg's hadn't used any skill and was a cheap shot. His excuses came tumbling out, barely coherent.

"Yeah, you're lucky my controller was glitching, or I coulda smacked you down soo easy! You're moves are all just a bunch of finger spazzing..." His voice trailed as his character respawned.

Raven's eyes snapped open during this exchange. Some sense had been alerted, snapping her out of her focused trance. She immediately stood, working her mind to remember... She stepped in front of the screen, and hit the power switch before the boys could even begin to complain. Finally, the sound of Kirae's hurried, desperate voice coming through the intercom at the door replayed in her head. With her eyes wide open, she glared at the others. They froze and listened.

She bolted towards the front door and explained. "There's someone outside, and he needs our help NOW!" The other Titans jumped up to follow her out.

**-Back outside-**

As the second set of doors opened, the group was blasted by a gust of bone chilling air. It seemed like a thunderstorm would be brewing soon, and the ground burst of cold air was the first indication of where major rain would hit. Upon clearing the doorstep, Raven and Starfire took to the air, Raven gaining some altitude and hooking left, while Starfire did the same going right. Robin went up the center, with Cyborg on the right and Beast Boy on the left. The blowing sand and wind hindered them slightly as they tried to get a handle on what was going on.

Before their eyes, a tall, lanky figure in black fatigues with white armbands and gloves, was courageously fighting the seven-foot tall black and red Crinos-form werewolf, _in hand to hand_. The taser attack had been unsuccessful; with Kirae's initial volley of taser fire, one had hit in the lower abdomen, while the probe that reached for the wolf's neck had been just barely dodged. Kirae had pushed the probe release stud that was on the back of the pistol grip, and fired the second round, which lodged into the wolf's left shoulder. Yet even under the immense power of electrical waves designed to disrupt the central nervous system, the towering werewolf had refused to relent. The batteries drained their power in seconds, and Kirae had tossed the tasers aside as the wolf regained its posture. By then Kirae knew the creature's reserves of rage and willpower _had_ to be drained completely.

Kirae fought against common sense, forcing his body into a wholehearted blitz against the werewolf. He rushed forward, throwing his caution and fear to the gusty wind that whipped his uniform sideways.

"Bring it on!" Kirae openly challenged the werewolf, daring it to strike the first blow. As he said this, an orange glow flickered across his eyes, and extremely faint arcs of crackling orange energy rippled across his entire body. Both combatants rushed to close the gap.

The wolf gave no indication of attack until the distance was point-blank. When Kirae was just five feet away, the wolf whipped its left arm around, with extended claws. Kirae just barely swooped beneath the four-inch long talons, and that was the exact moment that the Tower doors slid open, and the Titans punched out. Kirae swung up, and threw a flying roundhouse with his left foot. Not his most powerful move, but effective for the close range, and it would allow Kirae to channel his forward momentum into stopping him quickly. The blow hit the wolf's right side under it's ribs, stunning it as if it had been hit by a steel beam. The hit area glowed with a faint blue energy that only the wolf itself could see. Now that Kirae had bled off his forward momentum, he immediately fired a reverse spin kick with his right. The werewolf tried to counter with a right-handed straight arm punch, but Kire leaned back as his foot shot out. The punch went overhead, and Kirae's heel drove into where a human's Solar Plexus belonged, dead center under the ribs.

The Titans were shocked to see the werewolf _hurt_, much less _affected_ by Kirae's attack. It fought to keep its own footing, and was twisted slightly to the left still, having not recovered balance from its last punch. Kirae let his left leg collapse, and slid closer in at a near horizontal angle. His right foot continued it's return arc, swinging a full circle, but striking much lower now. Kirae kicked at the wolf's right ankle with his left foot, and swung his right foot into the side of the werewolf's right knee. Again, Kirae's blows somehow generated many times more power then they should have. The lightweight teenager brought the towering werewolf crashing into the sand.

Kirae rolled backwards to gain distance and spring to his feet. Yet even as Kirae rose, the wolf jumped back on the offensive. They had both suddenly realized that the Titans were about to enter the fray, and the wolf's next move could not have been any more effective. As Starfire and Cyborg fired sonic cannon and starbolts at it, the werewolf lunged at Kirae and the shots impacted harmlessly behind it. Kirae saw the lunge as he rose, tried to vector to the side and dodge, but wasn't fast enough and caught three razor-sharp claws to his left arm, right where his emblem was. The gashes would require stitches later, but didn't even reach the muscle. The slices through his uniform were very straight and clean, though quickly soaking with blood. But there should have been more damage. The cuts should have been four times as deep, and it was as though Kirae's arm had been armored.

All of this had happened so fast, the Titan's had only closed half the distance to Kirae, though this was only really an issue to Robin and Beast Boy. Kirae had to backflip to regain his footing, ignoring the intense burning pain in his arm. But by this time, the werewolf had turned back towards Kirae, prepared for a lunge with the intent of mauling him. Thankfully, Cyborg's precise, calculated aim punched the wolf sideways, even as it was moving. A salvo of starbolts hit the ground beneath the werewolf, also blasting it sideways.

Kirae was pelted with hot sand and and an intense heat flash as he reached for the snap buckle on his left shoulder. The wave of heat nearly singed him, and he let Starfire know it as he struggled to get his chain free.

"Watch where- you sling- that- fragging- plasma- WILL YOU?" He grunted out as his left arm worked the chain and began a figure-eight arc with ten feet nearly instantly. But there was a stutter in his highly efficient motion when he first grabbed hold of the thick chain. Kire received a strong, though painless, electric shock. And as the chain circled through the cold air, it began to glow a visible orange. This even surprised Kirae, but he couldn't feel any heat, so he continued to prepare his attack, slinging the chain around his body through a fluid, well-practiced pattern designed to build momentum, and allow Kirae to throw the chain, rather than swing it at the target.

Beast Boy had morphed into a giant green T-Rex, distracting the wolf for a split second. The T-Rex had it's jaws opened, nearly catching the werewolf with the huge teeth, but the wolf was just able to spring onto Beast Boy's muzzle. Beast Boy reared up and was about to smash the wolf into the sand when it leaped high into the air. This was an unexpected angle from an obscured position, and Kirae's reflexes couldn't handle the load. Kirae managed to launch a thirty foot length of chain in the general direction, but missed.

Kirae was only fortunate that the werewolf's extended claws were so short. Four of them punched into his torso along a vertical line covering the far left of his ribcage. Kirae was knocked backwards and into the sand by the diagonal attack. He lay on his back stunned, shocked by the pain he felt, having only the capacity to tilt his head up, clutching his side with his right arm as the wolf bolted in for the kill. Cyborg missed his mark with his sonic cannon, but Robin was able to swoop under, diving sideways and rolling Kirae just a few feet over.

Starfire gave up on throwing starbolts seconds ago, deciding to bolt in and join the hand-to-hand melee. Earlier, Raven could not risk throwing the scattered boulders because the melee was shifting too fast. She had tried to bind the werewolf with her powers, but they had fizzled instantly. There had been a small amount of her black energy visible, but none of the others had even noticed the insignificant negative glow in all of the chaos. While Starfire had continued to fireher second salvo of starbolts, Raven had already begun to move in for one last effort. While Starfire and Cyborg were still several yards away, Raven had already closed in.

As Robin struggled to get Kirae clear, Raven swooped between them and the werewolf. It was all or nothing now. The wolf was turning to face Robin and Kirae, throwing a punch at Raven at the same time. With her left hand she created a shield that deflected the werewolf's right fist to the outside, and at the same time used her right hand to manipulate a large swath of sand right out from under the wolf, blasting it away as if there had been an underground explosion. The wolf dropped into the waist-deep pit, swinging at Raven's feet but missing as it leaned against the steep edge on her side. Cyborg sloshed to a stop in the deep sand just feet from the pit, and Starfire took the opportunity to fire a salvo into it. The werewolf leaped into a backwards dodge unbelievably fast, but still took the brunt of the blast. It landed on it's back in the sand, immediately springing to it's feet- but for the last time.

A streak of bright orange shot into and directly through the creature's heart. It almost howled out in pain, but was instantly wiped out of existence by a wave of energy that followed the titanium chain. _Kirae's titanium chain_, which now glowed an intense molten-steel color. The Titan's eye's shifted to Kirae, who stood next to a thunderstruck Robin. Though Kirae was hunched forward, clutching his side with his right arm, the chain that was now quickly losing it's glow was indeed in his left hand. A long, slim equipment pouch on his chest hung open, where he had retrived a heavy, weighted spike.

The Titans quickly rushed to his aid as he dropped to his knees, sitting on his feet. Robin knelt next to him, supporting Kirae's left arm on his own shoulder, and Raven knelt in front with wide eyes, Starfire hovered just overhead, Cyborg stood close, working the console on his arm to bring up medical information, and finally Beast Boy tried to see around all of them as he moved around the back.

"Oh no, he is hurt!" Starfire exclaimed, rushing forward to assist Robin. But she froze when Kirae extended his blood covered right hand to her shoulder. His head was tilted forward as he spoke solemly.

"I'll live." He continued in few words, explaining with the knowledge of a combat paramedic. Though calm, his speech was quiet and pained, but most worrying of all was the sucking, gurgling noise coming from under his uniform.

"No vitals hit, wounds aren't too deep." His eyes closed, though they were hidden from view already. They were losing their glow, and the color darkened to an orange-tinged brown.

"First aid will be enough." And with the last few words he could muster, he said-

"Hope you don't mind... if I" exhausted, his speech tumbled out in one syllable-

"spendthenight." Finally knowing he was safe, he let sleep take his exhausted, injured body.


	2. Titan's Tower

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Teen Titans, Halo, BlackHawk, SureFire, Oakley, H&K, or Armalite. I do own Kirae Nakase and Burokaji Corp. Thanks to ScarletAngel68, KingDonut, and SanoZero for getting me this far. Thanks to ClockworkSoldier and Jess for my first positive reviews. If I start talking about guns and you don't understand, feel free to skim over it. But please pay attention to everything else.

**Layer of Darkness  
Ch.2** "Place for my Head" (Linkin Park song title) or:  
**-Titan's Tower-**

**-Next morning-**

9:13AM, Sunday, Titans Tower infirmary

Kirae awoke the next day at about oh-nine-hundred. Not early as usual, but considering the damage he'd taken, that was damn good time to wake up. He remained oblivious to his surroundings as he carefully tried to remember his wounds. His eyes moved from his wristwatch to his exposed chest, where four evenly spaced bandages with dark patches were wrapped around him. Last Kirae had remembered, his injuries were four three-inch deep stabs to the chest, and three nasty, but superficial gashes on his right arm. But he felt like he was in much better shape than that right now. His eyes began to travel around the room, but Kirae didn't really take in anything, as he was still visualizing his personal damage.

The room, or at least this section of the infirmary, had enough space for two standard hospital beds, with plenty of space for medical equipment. Kirae was glad to see that he was only hooked up to a life signs monitor, with no respirator stuck down his throat. Faint gray light filtered in through the half-open vertical blinds. Kirae was thankful for the heavily overcast sky, not wanting to struggle with bright sunlight today, because though he didn't feel much pain, he did feel very fuzzy and light-headed. He hoped that he wasn't doped up on painkillers, because he really wanted to get up and properly introduce himself. Speaking of which...

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, and sat up. He saw that he still had his trousers on, but his top and boots were gone. It seemed like they had sponged the blood and sweat off his torso pretty good, but he still definately needed a shower. Kirae bent forward a little to feel how far the pain went. What he felt was pretty severe, but his fine-tuned body awareness told him that the stab wounds in his abdomen were only about an inch deep now. But how was that possible? Kirae trusted his senses, and the other visible signs. The cuts on his arm were already mere scars, and the bruises on his abdomen were only about two inches across each. Kirae analyzed the evidence in his mind, carefully filtering it through what he had studied about puncture wounds. He checked the date on his watch to be sure, yet for some unexplained reason, he indeed did have advanced healing. The two slits in his lungs were fully closed up, and had even smaller bruises. Kirae's left lung did feel a little raw, but he couldn't feel any fluid trapped inside. Though Kirae had known his injuries were severe last night, he knew he would survive because there weren't any organs or arteries hit.

"Well, cool then!" he speaks aloud. '_Yeah, I'll have to take it easy, but at least I'm not bed-ridden. Just seal the cuts with C.A. and shower up. That is, after I say thanks.'_

Kirae was stripping off the life-signs sensors when the door to the right of his bed slid open. Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy rushed in, much surprised to see Kirae sitting awake. He looked up at the group that was frozen at the door, also pausing with a slight shock.

Robin recovered first, then Beast Boy and Cyborg. Kirae sighed, giving his head a rub in an attempt to clear out the fuzzies. He looked to Robin for the first words.

"Well, uh, good to see you up." Robin began, regaining his composure.. "This is Beast Boy, Cyborg, and I'm Robin. Should I call you Nakase?" Robin asked, after motioning to the other Titans behind him.

"Nah, my first name's Kirae, and I guess I don't have any superhero name." Kirae responded. He was feeling a little edgy, being that his conversational skills just weren't very sharp, and he really wasn't used to meeting new people.

"Ok, Kirae, so what did you come to us for?" Robin asked, neutrally.

The answer came quickly to Kirae, and he only had to gather his thoughts for a second before explaining.

"I've been picking up some strange abilities lately. Abilities that I don't know what to do with, like what you saw last night. I can tell I'm tapping some sort of supernatural energy, but I don't know any details. I think I can help you."

"So you think you belong with us?" Cyborg asked, with his typical loud and clear voice, seeming to agree. Kirae nodded as he continued.

"It was about three months ago when I found out that I was something unique. My eyes changed color when I fought against a creature that attacked a good friend of mine. I swear that it seemed human, but my friend, who's Tae Kwon Do is almost as fast as mine, couldn't even faze the thing. When I fought it, we caused all kinds of heavy damage to the area. Holes in brick walls, nearly knocked over streetlights. And I just can't explain how it disappeared, gone without a trace."

"I came to Jump City to meet someone that was supposed to know the answers. But after two months of slinking around in the dark, I decided I didn't believe him. So I packed up my gear and moved out. He told me I should see the Teen Titans, and I was giving myself one night to think it over, trying to learn something for myself, when that wolf came bolting at me like a bat from hell. It felt like I had some sort of radar sixth sense, there was this familiar ringing in my ears that seems to point out when something is more than it seems. And that red and black wolf really didn't seem to be the natural thing to see in a crowded city."

"Gee, what gave you _that_ idea?" mused Beast Boy. Cyborg slapped him in the back of the head, but they both got serious and quieted.

"I knew I was outmatched, and fled here immediately. So I'm sorry for showing up without any warning, and I'm sorry for breaching your tunnel. I, eh, hope I'm not intruding?" Kirae finished, and looked up to see the entire team standing before him, with Starfire and Raven having entered while he spoke.

Robin stepped forward, extending his gloved hand. "You had a few impressive moves last night. You can stay, and we'll talk about the team later."

Kirae gladly accepted it, standing. Robin broke away, then motioned to the two girls in the back. "Here's Raven and Starfire-" he began to say, then realized that Kirae was about to have the best -or worst- hug of his life. Robin, Raven, Cyborg, and Beast boy all winced as a purple streak shot out at Kirae before they even had a chance to restrain the cheerful Tamarainian.

"New friend Kirae Nakase! I must welcome you to Jump City and our home, the Titans Tower!"

Poor Kirae was crushed into a twisted shape, with his head facing the roof, and his long legs were curled, not touching the ground. Starfire's sudden outburst caught him completely by surprise, and all he could see was hallucinated stars on the white roof. His midsection where the remaining wounds were, was in a state beyond pain.

"Surely, a joyus occasion such as this deserves a traditional Tamaranian celebration..."

The other Titans finally peeled her off him, and Cyborg quickly talked her into a more 'traditional American greeting'. Kirae dropped back onto the bed, looking like a shriveled, dead cockroach with his limbs stuck in the air. After twitching a few times, his body puffed back up, and he snapped into a sitting position. He wheezed a few times, kneeding his face to try and get some feeling back.

Kirae got to his feet, and found he could barely stand. His legs were weak and tense, and his feet were sore, but not blistered. Score another one for good preparation. Thorough stretching and good boot socks had kept him from being a complete wreck.

Kirae's curiosity wanted to look at their gear in detail, but that examination would have to wait. He shook Beast Boy's hand, then Cyborg, and finally Raven. The stars didn't clear from Kirae's senses until he reached Raven, and the familiar ringing in his ears returned. He paused for a second, verifying.

"You use some direct form of magic, don't you?"

Raven replied calmly, "Yeah. I'm a witch."

That one nearly floored Kirae. But he let the magnitude of what she'd just said go over his head, and asked the logical next question.

"Soooo... Did you do some healing magic on me? I'm almost back to a hundred percent already!"

"Hardly." She responded. "I could barely get you past the first phase of healing. You did the rest."

Kirae strode back to the bed and sat on the edge. "I guess I'm becoming physically stronger too. Sweet."

_'I'm talking too much... I need a break.'_

"Soooo... Can I get a shower in? I feel good enough to be on my feet now. Then maybe we can continue?"

"Oh yeah! Hey, let me hook ya up, I'll show ya downstairs." volunteered Cyborg.

They all dispersed, with Kirae following Cyborg downstairs to the bathroom after picking up his massive backpack/duffelbag, boots, and battle gear from under the hospital bed.

"Dude, I can't believe you can even walk right now, after last night. You got pummeled!" Cyborg commented as the elevator descended.

"I can't either, but I'm still another day away from one hundred percent recovery. Feel kinda sick too." Kirae said as he leaned heavily against the elevator's railing.

Cyborg showed Kirae to the second-floor bathroom, next to the exercise room.

"There's another one upstairs where our rooms are too. We'll get to that later. Just head down to the first floor when you're done. There are clean towels in the closet in there." Cyborg left Kirae at the door, and returned to the elevator. Kirae entered to black and white tiled bathroom.

He stripped off the bandages and sealed the last two wounds shut with Cyanoacrylate, stuffed his dirty clothes into yet another compartment of his pack, then pulled his showering items from his pack and stepped into the rejuvinating stream of hot water, literally shedding a layer of grime, grit, blood, and sweat. He came out of the bathroom twenty minutes later, having worked some of the knots out of his muscles with heat, feeling nearly like a fresh new man, but still just a little light-headed. He wore a black Under Armor T-shirt, another set of black BDU trousers that tucked into his tactical boots for maximum bagginess, and a thick battle belt. His hair was spiked up, though his haircut was distinct with it's short sides, and somewhat short hair.

He wore his sleeveless white Aramid armor vest over the T-shirt, leaving the black sleeves showing, also tucked in. He'd cleaned the blood from it, thought there was nothing he could do about the four slits of battle damage. The Aramid vest itself was a single piece of thick, laminated white Aramid, secured with black plastic snap buckles on the outside. It overlapped itself in the front by about two inches. The vest was cut with a split extended bottom that reached to Kirae's thighs for maximum protection, and a standard crew neck. It tapered slightly to Kirae's form, wider at the shoulders and slimmer at the waist, where it then split, allowing mobility. The vest had undoubtedly saved his life, by resisting the stabbing force, and preventing the werewolf's claws from tearing him in half.

Kirae brought his huge pack back downstairs with him, meeting all the Titans in the kitchen/dining room, choosing a random seat along the rectangular stainless-steel table, between Starfire and Cyborg, directly across from Robin. Kirae dropped his gear in a pile behind the table, and with his muscles in such a strange balance of soreness and relaxation, plopped into his seat, slouching unprofessionally. He tried to pick himself up, but still couldn't sit totally proper. He compromised, resting slightly on the table edge for support, finally at least looking like he was trying to have manners. But it was apparent enough to the others how drained he was. '_Pheeewww man. And speaking of drained...'_

Before anything important started, Kire interjected. "Excuse me, can I get something to drink first?"

"Yeah, anything in the fridge is open game." Declared Robin.

Kirae slinked off to the refrigerator, opening the door to see... _'WHAT THE FRAG! OH MAN THAT'S FRAGGING GROSS! WHAT-HOW-WHY-WHAT?'_

"Wha wha wha!" Kirae muttered unintelligbly as he pointed inside the fridge, looking at the Titans. There were huge gobs of blue fungus in different shapes, not to mention the jello-like green blobs with other substances suspended in them. He didn't really notice the large quantity of mustard also in the fridge.

"Oh. Yeah. Don't worry about that stuff, it's Star's, and it usually won't make you sick." Robin explained.

Kirae recovered, finding a 62 ounce jug of orange Powerade. _'SCORE!' _He snatched the prize greedily, holding it over the door.

"Does anyone else want some of this? 'Cuz I'm totally drained..."

Cyborg waved him off. "Naw man, go ahead!" Cyborg then turned to the living room to yell at Beast Boy.

"HEY! Get your happy little A.D.D. butt off the GameStation, and GET - IN - HERE!"

Beast Boy reluctantly paused his game, setting down the control pad as if introducing newbies was a regular pain.

During this commotion, Kirae looked to Robin. "Glass?"

Robin directed him, and Kirae proceeded to rapidly gulp down several glasses of chilled, citrus-flavored, electrolyte-replacing, liquid goodness. He almost emptied the entire jug on the spot. He would have been hungry if his stomach wasn't so full of liquid at the moment. Kirae brought the nearly empty jug to the table and refilled his glass, drank half, and refilled it again.

"We're going to give you a quick orientation of the Tower, and go over your basic responsiblities. There's over thirty stories, but most of them aren't in use." Robin began, as he stood and motioned to the hall.

The group moved to the edge of sight of the main room while Robin gave a brief description of what was fairly obvious anyway. They used the elevator to quickly visit each floor of notice, finally reaching the top floor where the personal areas were. The rest of the team was following simply for the sake of having a presence, with Robin performing admirably as a guide.

"You can take any empty room you want, just whatever suits you." Robin explained.

"That only leaves the garage and the roof unvisited, but we can get to that later. You can go check out your room and get settled in for a while. Catch you at noon for lunch." Robin dismissed, and the Titans immediately scattered into the typical gloom and shadows of the dim upper levels. Kirae found a room with a view to his liking near Starfire's and Cyborg's. It was on the outside edge, with a window that overlooked both the city and the open ocean to either side.

Kirae plunked down and began unloading his packwhich contained enough weapons and ordnance to supply a small SWAT team, though was cleverly packed to accomodate precious little space in his pack. There was also a collection of tactical gear, medical and maintenence supplies, martial arts training gear, a powerful laptop computer and microprinter, sleeping roll, and finally, his two-week wardrobe. He'd practically lived out of his backpack for about two months now.

He'd explained a lot about himself on the way up to the top floor, mostly concerning the circumstances that allowed a fifteen-year old to live so independently.

'I was homeschooled, which gave me a lot of extra time during the day if I applied myself. I started Taekwondo at seven, not that I could have been any good, but it certaintly gave me a focus. I've kinda developed a presence in the area of martial arts, so I have an under-the-table job with Burokaji Corporation, which is the parent company of a lot of military-supply-type companies, like BlackHawk, Armalite, and SureFire. When I come up with a good piece of gear, I sell them the patent and in addition they let me keep the prototypes. It's like being sponsored.'

'So how did you end up here?' They'd asked.

'I'm already done with my high school-level education. I was going to do some college prep and take it easy for about a year, but then... There was that fight I told you about. I've practically got a job that's paying on a car I can't drive yet, and my parents have seen what's happened. They think the same thing I do... That if it takes a pilgrimage, then that's what I'll do.'

'So I came to Jump to meet another... cell, if you will. A guy I was refered to that should actually know something. And I wasn't disappointed. There's an underworld, but I haven't uncovered enough of it to know what is going on. After two months of investigations with my mentor here in Jump, he refered me to you guys. That was just two days ago.'

It was slightly vague, but Kirae had an idea that is was better not to mention that he had actually 'killed' a few creatures that may have been in some part human. Like the previous night, they usually left no trace.

And then later, there had been when he mentioned where -_exactly-_ he was from.

'Steel City!' They gaped.

Cyborg spoke up. 'Yeah, we've been there before, alright. 'Surprised you didn't catch on to Brother Blood when we were there a few months ago. Man, I guess Titans East isn't too popular.' He seemed to be a little disappointed with those words.

The climate of Kirae's hometown explained why he owned an extremely expensive HVM suit. HVM was the most technologically advanced cold and wet-weather gear currently produced. Kirae's suit was a black set of parka and overtrousers made by Oakley - a well-known eyewear manufacturer that also had clothing and footwear lines.

Fortunately, the Titan's hadn't seen any of Kirae's firearms yet. From the merceanary-like loadouts that some of the supernaturals 'left behind', Kirae had scavenged a choice armory. Kirae didn't know why some vampires and werewolves hade been in posession of military-grade explosives, but aimed to find out.

Laid out on the floor was a huge all-black semi-automatic with pump-action-backup H&K M3 Super 90 12-gauge shotgun in Urban Sniper's Weapon Platform configuration. With takedown punch and accuracy equal to any rifle, but less likely to over-penetrate through walls and cause accidental casualties, the scope-mounted shotgun was Kirae's longarm of choice in the city.

This would be mated with a pair of Glock 18c's, which were full-size pistols modified into firing full-auto. The Glocks had extended magazines that protruded from the grips by three inches, and had tiny AimPoint anti-parallax reflex scopes mounted in place of the rear sights.

There was also a compact H&K MP5 SD6 silenced submachine gun, and its big brother, or perhaps cousin, the fullsize H&K G33 automatic battle rifle. They both used the same internal operating system that dramatically dropped the effects of felt recoil, or 'kick'. Finally, a hard hitting all-black Kimber 1911-model .45 caliber pistol with competition-type adjustable sights, and an outrageously overpowered Desert Eagle pistol firing .50 caliber Action Express magnum.

Kirae also had twelve pounds of scavenged Semtex putty-explosive remaining, with plenty of radio and time-delay detonators. While the pile of explosives may have seemed inherently dangerious, without detonators it was quite safe. The detonators were safe and secure in a bulletproof paperback-novel-sized case.

Kirea briefly considered his new room's layout before getting settled in. The walls and ceiling were a mottled pattern of dark grey, and the floor was covered with industrial grade black carpet. Directly across from the door was the outside wall, with a huge double side-sliding storm-paned window with vertical blinds. The window covered the left half of the twenty foot wall. Close to the window on the left wall was a wide, brushed aluminum desk with a plush black office chair. A set of three giant aluminum wall lockers covered most of the fifteen foot right-hand wall, pushed towards the outside wall. Pushed into the corner where the lockers left a gap, was the foot of Kirae's brushed aluminum rail frame double-bunk bed. It was aligned with the long edge against the doorway wall, with the head towards the doorway. There was no closet, but Kirae preferred the lockers anyway. Inside one of the lockers he found a collapsible nylon mesh shelving system that hung from the clothing rack. It seemed to be designed to fit a pair of shoes on each shelf; it was about a foot wide, as tall as the locker, and about two feet deep.

Kirae immediately put his weapons and gear into the first locker. Kirae placed his pistols, tasers, sheaves of throwing knives, explosive components, and submachine gun on the shelves, and set the longarms on the bottom. The collection of various utility pouches, gadgets, and his first-aid kit, also went into the shelves. He hung his weighty tactical vest on a couple of hangers, leaving the empty thigh holsters and satchels of line and chain attached to it, and padlocked the locker shut. He mentally labeled this 'The Response Locker'.

Next, he moved his laptop computer and printer to the desk, and placed nearly everything else he owned in the second locker, including his clothes after he got them hung up. He activated his computer's Hibernation Mode and connected a power supply. He rolled onto the bottom bunk of his bed, and lounged on his back for a moment, with his ankles crossed and his arms folded behind his head. His body immediately relaxed, and Kirae felt drowsy.

_'All I need to do is decorate. I'll probably give myself another day off of working out, till I feel better. 'Tsa about another hour and a half till noon, -yawn- might as well take a nap...'_

He yawned and stretched, then set his watch alarm an hour and a half ahead. He rolled over, embraced the cool pillow, and allowed the soothing sound of light rain outside to lull him to sleep, still wearing his boots and armor.

Later, downstairs...

Robin was trying to remember where he kept the extra Teen Titan communicators. And in the living room...

"NO! No way B! That ain't happening! You can't just assume Kirae's gonna like tofu because he's Japanese!" Cyborg's voice spilled out in his trademark fashion, like a continous-fire verbal assault.

"Yeah, well what makes you think he's a cheeseburger person?" returned Beast Boy.

"Oh come on! EVERYBODY is a cheeseburger person -except- _you_. I'm trying to welcome him, and your move could seem like the opposite." After thinking a second, Cyborg finished in resignation. "But I can't really grill outside today anyway, so just let him find something himself."

"Right." Beast Boy confirmed, and the two returned to their cooperative game of Halo 2. 'Legendary' difficulty gave even _these_ 'legendary' gamaholics a challenge.

When Kirae finally showed up downstairs, the rain was coming in stronger. He was only half awake, but his eye's shade of brown had improved to a lighter, brighter shade, though still nowhere near orange. The team had gathered downstairs, and Kirae began to wonder if they always liked to take meals together. He began scrounging for something to eat, and turned to Beast Boy, who was cooking tofu on the stove.

"Dude, got any Ramen?"

"Like, noodles?" BB absent-mindedly questioned.

"Yeah man, I'm half Japanese. I love ramen noodles!" Kirae's eccentric tone betrayed his drowsiness.

BB directed him, and Kirae proceeded to start some water on the stove.

"Kirae, d'ja want to try some of my tofu burgers?" Beast Boy solicited.

"I could have really gone for a cheeseburger" Kirae began, interupted by a loud 'Booyah!' from the living room.

"But a tofu burger would be great," he finished gratefully.

Kirae found a massively oversized ceramic mug large enough to cook a pack of ramen in, and brought this, what was left of the orange Powerade, and BB's tofu burger to the kitchen table on a tray. Now that he was mostly rehydrated, he was feeling pretty ravenous. Kirae found that a tofu burger on a whole-wheat bun tasted pretty good when dipped in a strong beef-flavor ramen broth.

Midway through his meal he decided to move to the living room to be closer to the window, just because he loved the rain that much. He finished, and returned to the kitchen to clean up. He came back to the living room to find Robin standing pointedly before the other Titans again.

"I need to give you this, now that you're on our team." Robin said, extending his left hand, showing Kirae a small, somewhat circular yellow and black device. Kirae walked up to him with dignity, and recieved the item in his left hand, shaking with his right.

"That's your communicator, your locator, and your badge." Robin said. Then he smiled, and stepped aside.

Beast Boy held out a unicycle, Cyborg pulled a pink tutu from behind the couch, and Raven held out a rubber chicken from under her cloak.

"Ya need to get initiated!" proclaimed Cyborg, almost accusingly.


	3. First Response

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Teen Titans. Oh well. At least I own Kirae. 

**Layer of Darkness Ch.3** "Urban Assault Vehicle" or:  
**-First Response-**

1834hrs Zulu, (6:34 PM), Kirae's room

Kirea had retired to his room, having completed his 'initiation'. He'd just begun looking up posters for his room online, and still had endorphines in his system from the frantic activity that had occured downstairs... and upstairs... and outside too, actually. But he was able to laugh at himself, and the endorphines made him feel all the better.

Night had fallen, and Kirae sat at his computer with just the screen's glow illuminating the room. Outside his window, the din of Jump City was seen through the thin ocean haze and Kirae's open blinds. His printer had just gotten to work when the Tower's alarm system fired up, filling his room with pulsing red light that came from panels in the ceiling. An electronic klaxon could also be heard down the hall, synchronized with the pulsing lights.

He was confused for a moment, then fished the yellow and black communicator out of his left cargo pocket.

"Robin, what's going on?"

"Trouble downtown. Get to the garage!" Robin made the order quick, not wanting to waste a single second.

"Wilco!"

Kirae jumped to his locker, keyed open the lock, and flung the doors apart. He rushed into his tactical vest, and only clipped together three essential buckles; the belt, and one strap on each leg holster. He slung the M3-S90 shotgun over his left shoulder, shoved the loaded Glocks into the leg holsters, and grabbed a small black duffel bag to toss everything else in. He quickly zipped the bag shut before putting it over his right shoulder, slamming the locker closed, snatching a lightly insulated combat uniform shirt from the other locker, and bolting out the door, down the hall, and into the elevator.

On the way down he shrugged out of the vest and put on the black top, then got everything secured properly; two small chest buckles, the belt, the leg straps of the rapelling harness, and the two straps on each leg holster. He attached another two holsters to the bottom half of his vest, to the outer side of the front. Towards the center he attached a shotshell pouch on one side, and a quadruple pistol magazine pouch on the other. The top half was already loaded with four vertical, bottom-opening pouches sized for assault rifle magazines; they contained weapon tips for his chain, and a total of four blacked-out throwing knives with silver-plated edges. Kirae holstered his tasers in the vest, and filled the shotshell pouch with varied types of ammo from the duffel bag. Four extended-length Glock magazines went into the vest, plus each leg holster had a pocket for one more mag as well. He attached a large pouch to the back of his belt, which contained some explosives and some detonators in a small armored case. Finally, just as the elevator was reaching the garage floor, Kire got his communicator secured to the top of his right shoulder, and plugged his throat-mike into it.

The doors slid open, and Kirae hustled through the shadowy, sparsely lit garage to the T-car, noticing that he wasn't the last person there. A second elevator that ran parallel with the first reached the garage floor just seconds after Kirae did, and Cyborg emerged. Kirae realized that all of the racing-style bucket seats were taken, except the driver's.

"There's fold down seats in the back, they're mounted on the sides." Cyborg explained as they neared the car. Kirae entered through the left-hand backdoor, and squeezed by Beast Boy, carefully edging in shotgun-first. To Beast Boy's left was Starfire and Raven, with Robin in the front passenger seat, and Cyborg driving. They all gave him a disapproving look.

"What is that for?" questioned Raven. Instead of monotone, her voice was serious.

Kirae slammed the pump back, which opened the breach of the M3-S90 with a loud, metallic clank.

"World's a dangerious place," he said nonchalantly, holding a fistfull of black shotshells, and preparing to load them.

Robin quickly resolved the situation with a simple order.

"You aren't authorized ot use lethal force. No - killing..." he said slowly.

"No problem," Kirae positively replied. He put away the black shells, pulled out some that were a flourescent orange color, and proceeded to start shoving them in.

Beast Boy immediately spoke up. "You're still gonna shoot that thing?"

"These are Oleoresin-Capsicum Slug rounds," Kirae said smoothly. "They'll just give someone a very, very, bad day."

"Everyone, hold on!" Interrupted Cyborg, as the garage bay door opened, and he pinned the throttle, accelerating up the ramp. Kirae swiftly got positive control of his shotgun in his lap, with the muzzle facing the back of the car.

Kirae struggled to twist his head and look out the front window, very impressed by the large car's performance. The car jumped at the end of the ramp, then Cyborg punched the brakes so that he could use weight-balance-oversteer to stay on the driveway, make a right turn, and drop into the under-bay tunnel. The car reached speeds well over 150 miles-per-hour as it barrelled down the well-lit tunnel.

'Woah.' Kirae thought. _'It would take at least 850 horsepower to push six passengers this fast. He's gotta have a turbocharger the size of a damn toilet sitting under the hood. And he drives like a Formula One racer. Way cool.'_

Beast Boy finally looked back at Kirae, who was wearing a manic smile. Kirae loved the ridiculous speed that they were traveling at. Cyborg had to brake sooner than if the road was flat, because the next turn would be right-hander after exiting the tunnel, and the car's balance would be shifted to the rear. These were technical things about racing that only Cyborg and Kirae probably understood.

"So now you're going to shoot slugs at the bad guys?" Beast Boy asked. Kirae had returned to loading shells as Cyborg wove through the dark city streets.

Kirae buried his face in his armor-gloved hand and muttered back, "Something like that."

Also misunderstanding, Starfire began to describe an alien organism.

"Capsicum Slugs are a very dangerious insect on planet Oleoresin. They are responsible for several deaths per year when the larvae devour the host that they were implanted in. The adult slugs secrete a powerful sedative that allows them to crawl down a sleeping victim's throat and lay the eggs."

This time, everyone in the car looked at Starfire.

"Hey, I'm trying to drive here Star! Man, that's gross!" Cyborg commented.

Kirae frowned then said, "Ech, nothing like that."

The final three shells he loaded had black bands on them in addition to the flourescent orange, signifiying that they contained pure Capsaicin powder that was delivered via a rocket-like rubber sleeve. The Capsaicin-filled rubber nose would burst open on impact, allowing longer-ranged shots.

Capsaicin itself is the chemical compound responsible for the burning sensation in spicy food. It stimulates pain receptors, rather than actual taste buds. Kirae himself couldn't have said it simpler, without delving into detail, so he said nothing. They'd see soon enough how effective it was... non-lethaly.

They'd driven to the most high-powered business section of the city. Skyscrapers of various styles and construction stood shoulder-to-shoulder, covering several city blocks. Cyborg slowed to a stop, parking on the sidewalk of an intersection corner. Light traffic continued to flow through this well-lit section of city, leaving the wide boulevards well under capacity. As could be expected when there were monsters rampaging just down the street.

The Titans quietly bailed from the T-car. Kirae popped open the rear hatch and jumped out, actually beating Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven out. Cyborg and Robin were already standing a few yards out in front of the car, around the corner in the middle of the six-lane street, getting a quick look at the situation. Kirae hustled up to them in a silent, low slung trot, with his massive shotgun pointed down and to the right. He took a wingman's position behind Cyborg, who was to Robin's left.

They gazed down the street, immediately noticing the gothic-looking man that was on the right side of the street, calmly watching as three nine-foot tall demons tore apart the first floor of a corporate skyscraper. The creatures were reminiscent of Satan himself. Their powerful, furry legs had reverse-joints, with huge cloven feet. Their bodies and golem-like faces were covered in fur, and they also had massive bat-like wings folded on their backs. They didn't have horns, but they did have raptor-like claws.

Kirae quickly sorted through his theories of demons and supernaturals, picturing the possiblities in his mind as he thought of each name. His sixth sense became slightly audible as he laid sight on scene.

'Balrog? Imps? Golems? Oh crap. No, these are... -Gargoyles! And that creepy dude, he's gotta be the controller!'

All this flitted through his mind in less than a second. He'd left the chamber of his shotgun open and empty, so that he could chose his first shot. In an instant, his hands had worked without a thought, shoving in a Capsaicin Rocket.

At that instant, the rest of the team had caught up. And Robin was prepared to give the order to capture the gothic man and stop the monsters.

"Titans! -" He began, pointing to the scene.

_-clack!-_

_**-BOOM!-**_

_The gothic man had seen the Titans approach. He'd also seen the one in black combat gear drop to his knee and take aim through his weapon's scope. But the self-taught Necromancer was prepared for projectile attacks, having created a psychic barrier around himself that would stop anything with high enough velocity. So he **thought**._

The Capsaicin rocket hit the barrier, but the payload of Capsaicin powder turned into an extremely effective cloud. A single gram of pure Capsaicin was tastable even when diluted into over 5,000 gallons of sugar water. The rockets contained three grams each.

The Necromancer's senses were instantly fried, and he hit the ground disoriented. His world was nothing but pain, and he suddenly wished he didn't have eyes, a nose, or lungs. Kirae aimed a second rocket into the prone Necro's center of mass. The Necro could no longer devote even a single thought to his barrier, and the spell died. The rocket hit him in the shoulder and exploded into another orange cloud of Capsaicin powder. The pain of the blunt impact drove him into complete sensory overload, and he fell into a debilatated state.

The gargoyles were acting on the Necromancer's previous orders to destroy the huge building. With no regard to their own lives, they were tearing apart the building's internal supports. But the Necromancer's feelings of hate towards whoever had hurt him filtered through the telepathic link to his gargoyles, and now they were set on tearing the Titans apart before they'd continue their first order.

Robin turned to Kirae violently, and shouted in his face, "What do you think you're doing! You wait until I give the orders around here, remember!"

Kirae gestured towards the advancing gargoyles, and replied off-handedly, "Behavior mod." Glancing back at the building, he continued in a more urgent tone.

"Had to drop him before he could do any serious damage." He kept his weapon low and quickly continued- "I'm sorry alright? Let's go!"

"Alright. **Titans! GO!"** Robin answered.


End file.
